FOLLOWING the plight of those affected by the alarming drought conditions, the Cityhope Disaster Relief team in Hillcrest responded to urgent calls for assistance by church groups in Vryheid where conditions for water have become severe.

Cityhope Disaster Relief is a non-profit organisation with a unique mission - to partner with businesses, organisations and church groups to facilitate relief efforts and delivery aid to communities and nations that have been directly affected by disaster situations.

Guy Veltman of Freedom Life Church contacted Cityhope Disaster Relief asking for urgent assistance saying that while there was a supply of water available to the Vryheid people by the local municipality, the condition of the water was extremely poor and unfit for human consumption.

The church supports the local welfare and other small NGOs such as the Inkululeko Children’s home for abandoned, orphaned and HIV-positive babies and children.

In line with the strict regime for the administering of ARV medication, the need for water and hydration by these children is of utmost importance. Understanding the weight of this requirement, Cityhope’s team extended an appeal to local water suppliers for urgent help.

Within a day, Gerrie Groenewald and his associate Chiquita Coetzee of Oasis Water responded to their request offering five tons of bottled water for the drought-stricken community. Cityhope Disaster Relief, supported by City Logistics, who sponsor their services to the organisation, facilitated the collection and drop-off of bottled water to Freedom Life Church where Veltman and his volunteers distributed scores of five-litre containers of clean, drinkable water to the community and the various welfare organisations they support.

One of the beneficiaries, Monique Koch, official administrator of the KZN CMD offices writes: “At the current moment we are giving a daily plate of food, Monday to Friday to 38 individuals - children, men and women - of all races. With the shortage of water in town it helped us a lot to give to the needy water to drink.”

Cityhope Disaster Relief has been involved in a number of local and international relief missions, including more recently a quest to Greece to assist thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing their homelands due to civil war and terrorism and Cityhope acknowledges the plight of closer-to-home causes where needs are always on the rise.

To find out more about Cityhope Disaster Relief and how you can be a part of its mission, go to www.cityhope.co.za or call 086 11 22331.

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